Setting up DPS Macros with Isboxer
Despite calling them DPS macros - I don't only use macros to setup my DPS characters at all. If you've read my other guides I have talked a few times about macros having issues firing properly when you spam them too much. It's not as noticeable when you put all /casts in a macro but if you mix /alt activates, /casts and other things and try to spam the macro it doesn't always work right.
The issue gets a lot worse when you try to add in two different macros that you're constantly spamming. Then you'll almost always have some abilities that aren't firing. When you use one macro before another macro has finished - it cancels it out completely. What I mean is if your macro is on line 3 and you hit another macro it stops right then and there and starts firing off the new macro - it doesn't finish the last two lines.
To circumvent this what I do is I bind each spell I use to Num Pad . individually - as the spell gem itself like in the screen shot above. I do - also - use a macro for my Forces/AA abilities, which I show below. You might be thinking WTF you just said not to use macros! I know, I know - but there's a few exceptions to this rule; one of which I talked about above but didn't give much detail on.
1. You can only use 1 macro. Spamming two macros is the worst thing you can do out of everything.
2. Do not mix /casts with /alt activates or /discs or /doabilities in a macro unless you sometimes don't mind if it misfires.
Those are the basic guide lines that you'll want to follow. Why you might ask? The truth is I really don't know. When I first started boxing I tried using all macros and I found that my abilities 'hung'. Basically I would be spamming my dps key and my character would keep trying to cast a spell & a force over and over - inevitably casting neither of them.
I literally sat there for weeks with two friends trying to figure it out, It mostly only happened when you really rapidly spammed the key - over 180 BPM usually is when it started to hang for me. I figured out what was causing it slowly but surely through experimentation and avoided it. The way I am telling you to setup your DPS buttons completely avoids the issue I am talking about. You can spam them as fast as you'd like and they'll never hang.
Anyway, below is a picture of my force macro which is what I use for my Wizards paired with the spells on their bar.
That's really all there is to setting up your DPS macros. If you use a class like a Necromancer or someone who uses DoTs.... Well you're adding unnecessary complexity to things and I recommend you don't DoT - just nuke. The only way to set up DoTs well would be to use one of your available ISboxer Keys and setup a macro with /pauses and /casts. Similar to how I taught people in my Alt Tab Boxing Guide.
If you have a melee character in your box group and it isn't the character "driving" your team - playing him is going to be extremely difficult. I've in fact never come up with a good way for players to box melee without using Mq2. I talk about this a lot more in my Boxing & Choosing your Classes Guide.
Those of you who want to box melee your best choice is to pick up Mq2 as well as Isboxer as that'll help you control your character without you having to reposition him constantly as well spam your abilities without you having to sit there and spam them yourself. Again, I go over more of this in the Boxing & Choosing your Classes Guide.
Finally the last screen shot of the hotbar above is from a Mage on my boxteam. As you can see the abilities are very slightly different and there's even a Pet Attack macro on there. I decided to take this screen shot to give you just another idea of how I do things.
If you would like to learn more about how I play each of the classes on my box team use the guides below.
How to Play a Wizard Class Guide
How to Play a Warrior Class Guide
How to Play a Cleric Class Guide
How to Play a Mage Class Guide
How to Play an Enchanter Class Guide